1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to holders for flat objects such as papers and/or computer disks. More particularly, this invention is directed to kits for easily making original holders by directly printing on covers with common personal printers, such as laser or ink jet printers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of holders for holding flat objects have previously been proposed. To have a better understanding of the invention, some typical constructions of conventional holders will first be described.
One of the principal types of such holders is generally known as a xe2x80x9cFlat-type holderxe2x80x9d. One example thereof is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No.93-82583, which is incorporated herein by reference. A holder 100 of this type, as shown in FIG. 16, comprises a cover 101 and a fastener 102. The cover 101 is made with a single paper sheet, and consists essentially of a front panel 1, a back panel 2, a spine panel 3 and a pleat 4 defined by folding the sheet on its folding lines bxe2x80x94b, cxe2x80x94c, dxe2x80x94d and exe2x80x94e as shown in FIG. 16. A folding line axe2x80x94a is a guiding line to open the front panel. The fastener 102 is secured on the pleat 4.
In this construction, however, since the entire cover 101 is made with a single sheet, the sheet itself inevitably becomes bigger. This structure causes difficulties in direct printing on the holder cover by small and low-cost popular personal printers, such as laser and ink jet printers, without encountering limited feed size problems, jamming problems, or distorted printing problems.
Another type of such holders is generally known as a xe2x80x9cpocket-type holderxe2x80x9d. A holder 200 of this type as shown in FIG. 17, comprises a cover 201 and a pocket 202. The cover 201 is made with a single paper sheet too, and consists essentially of a front panel 1 and a back panel 2 defined by folding the sheet on its folding line gxe2x80x94g located in the middle of the sheet. Typically, the pocket 202 is formed on the inside surface of the back panel 2 with pocket flaps 203 and 204.
In this construction, however, since the entire cover 201 is made with a single sheet (usually the pocket flaps 203 and 204 are also included), the sheet itself inevitably becomes bigger. This construction makes it difficult for end-users to print directly on the cover by common personal printers because of size, shapes and other considerations. Furthermore, these holders are normally provided with their pocket flaps 203 and 204 having been firmly fixed on the back panel to form the pocket 202, which makes it almost impossible to feed the sheet through the printers.
As a result, if end-users want to put original designs on the covers of above-mentioned holders, they usually either draw or write by hand directly on the covers, or else print the design on separate pieces of papers or labels first and then glue them on the covers. Consequently, making original design holders with a good appearance is difficult for most end-users.
Additionally, computer disks, such as Floppy Disks (FD), Magnetic Optical Disks (MO) and Compact Disks (CD) including CD-ROMs have become so popular that the demand for cost effective cases for them has increased. These disks are sometimes desired to be stored with related documents for convenience. Although some types of holders for them have been proposed, none of them was well designed to store these disks together with documents.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the problems as set forth above.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a kit for making an original designed holder easily by enabling end-users to directly print on covers with common personal printers.
These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by a kit for making a holder comprising a cover consisting of front and back panels and a means for holding flat objects such as papers and disks. At least a member including the front panel of the cover is provided as a printable single sheet in a substantially flat and generally rectangular form. The rectangular member including the front panel has a standard width and/or length.
According to the above-described construction, the holder cover is divided into at least two members provided as relatively small sheets in the kit. Thus, the provided member including the front panel of the cover can be a printable single sheet in substantially flat and generally rectangular form, and would not cause size and jamming problems even when small and low-cost printers are used to print thereon. Furthermore, since at least one of the width and the length of this member follows standard sizes, it can be easily fed into those printers essentially designed for operation on standard size papers in rectangular form. As a result, end-users can print directly at least on the front panel with common personal printers, and can make a holder of original design by assembling it after printing.